Civil Rights Concerns
in the Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Area in the Aftermath of the September 11,
2001, Tragedies

Chapter 6

Fears
and Concerns of Affected, At-Risk Communities

Panel Four heard from representatives of groups specifically
targeted by the post-September 11 backlash: Arabs, South Asians, Muslims
(including African American Muslims and Muslim women), and Sikhs. They described
the impact of the backlash on their communities, citing not only hate violence
and discrimination but also police harassment and civil liberties violations.
The panelists also offered suggestions for how local and federal agencies could
best respond to the types of incidents that have occurred.

The upsurge in hate crimes and discrimination against the
affected groups during 2001 has been well documented in published reports. In
its annual survey of hate crimes reported by state and local law enforcement
agencies, the FBI counted 481 attacks against people of Middle Eastern descent,
Muslims, and South Asian Sikhs during 2001, up from just 28 in 2000.[1]
Surveys conducted by several advocacy and human rights groups noted similar
patterns. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) confirmed more
than 700 violent incidents targeting members of the affected groups during the
first nine weeks after the September 11 attacks, and 165 more incidents during
the first nine months of 2002.[2]
The FBI and ADC both found that while violent crimes have tapered off in 2002,
job and housing discrimination remain persistent problems. ADC received more
than 80 complaints of discrimination in air travel and more than 800 complaints
of employment discrimination during the 13 months following the attacks.

In the weeks following September 11, there were four murders
across the country that were confirmed as hate related, and at least seven more
suspected hate crime murders.[3]
On September 15 in Mesa, Arizona,an
Indian Sikh, Balbir Singh Sodhi, was shot and killed while planting flowers
outside his gas station. Prosecutors have accused Frank Roque of going on a
shooting rampage in which he first killed Sodhi, then fired on the home of an
Afghan family, and finally shot at a Lebanese American gas station clerk. During
his arrest Roque yelled statements such as “I am a patriot!” and “I stand
for America all the way!” In the Dallas area, a white supremacist, Mark
Anthony Stroman, killed two people: Waqar Hasan, a Pakistani Muslim, shot in the
face on September 15 while cooking hamburgers in his grocery store; and Vasudev
Patel, an Indian American, shot in the chest on October 4 while working with his
wife behind the counter of a gas station they owned. Stroman told a Dallas radio
station he killed Hasan and Patel to seek revenge for the World Trade Center
attacks, “to retaliate on local Arab Americans or whatever you want to call
them.”[4] And on September 19 in
Lincoln Park, Michigan, Ali Almansoop, a U.S. citizen originally from Yemen, was
shot in the back while fleeing his attacker, who threatened, “I’m going to
kill you for what happened in New York and D.C.”

In the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, a number of
physical assaults were reported. For example, in Falls Church, Virginia, on
September 14, 2001, a motorist pulled alongside a delivery truck and asked the
deliveryman his ethnicity. When the deliveryman responded “Afghan,” the
attacker threatened and pursued him. When the delivery truck pulled into a
parking lot, the attacker approached the van and began punching the driver.
Witnesses screamed for the attacker to stop, and one woman threw herself in
between the two men. “Why are you telling me to leave? Why didn’t you tell
him to leave? This is my country. You should tell him to leave,” the attacker
shouted.[5]

Some assaults and hate speech specifically targeted Muslim
women, easily visible because of their headscarves. For example, on September
11, 2001, in Columbia, Maryland, a motorist stuck his head out of his car window
and yelled to the next car at a Muslim woman wearing a hijab, “You better hide.”[6]
On September 28 in Falls Church, Virginia, an unknown attacker struck a Muslim
woman in the head with a baseball bat. She struggled to get to the local mosque
to take refuge. Although mosque officials urged her to contact the police, she
refused, citing her uncertain immigration status.[7]

Local cases also included many attacks and threats against
mosques and Islamic centers. In the days following September 11, hate messages
were left on the answering machine of a mosque in Manassas, Virginia;the Dar Al Hijra Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia, received threats;
and the Islamic Center in Washington, D.C., received bomb threats, forcing the
closure of Massachusetts Avenue NW, where the center is located. In Sterling,
Virginia, on September 12, local Muslim residents gathered at their worship
center to go by chartered bus to a Red Cross center to donate blood. At their
worship center, they found their hallway spray painted in thick black letters,
several feet tall, spelling out “Die Pigs” and “Muslims Burn Forever.”[8]

Businesses and homes owned by people from the affected groups
were targeted. In Rockville, Maryland, a rug company owned by a Palestinian
immigrant was set on fire. An Afghan restaurant in Washington, D.C., was struck
by vandals who broke the front window and wrote threatening graffiti on the
storefront, including a message saying, “You guys destroy my country, we have
to destroy you.”[9] In Alexandria, Virginia,
windows were broken at an Islamic bookstore. The owner found two bricks on the
premises with notes that said, “You come to this country and kill. You must
die as well,” and “Arab murderers.” A local businessman donated his time
and resources to repair the windows.[10]
And on September 27, 2001, in Fairfax, Virginia, a large swastika was burned
into the front lawn of a Middle Eastern family’s home.[11]

Many cases of employment discrimination were reported in the
local area after September 11. To cite just a few examples, on September 15 an
Arab American was fired from his position as a strategy consultant with an
Arlington, Virginia, firm. The company claimed that his termination was due to a
reduction in the workforce. However, before September 11 he had been the first
person placed on a consultancy team because his performance had been
exceptional, and he was more qualified than his colleagues who remained on the
team. In Washington, D.C., an Afghan janitor at a restaurant faced harassment
from the restaurant’s chef, who nicknamed him “Taliban” and spoke to him
in offensive tones. The janitor was stripped of his working hours and finally
was fired for allegedly arguing with the restaurant’s manager. In
Gaithersburg, Maryland, an Arab American construction worker faced constant
threats with vulgar language at work. A co-worker acted as though he would
attack him with a metal pipe. When he reported the threats and hostility, his
supervisor responded with, “Well, don’t you think they have a right to be
angry?”

Incidents of discrimination in air travel occurred at the three
area airports. In some cases, individuals were denied boarding or removed from
aircraft after they had already passed through security screening. An Arab
American traveler at Baltimore/Washington International Airport on October 31,
2001, was boarding a flight after having passed through regular security
screening. While in the gateway leading to the plane, he looked at a woman next
to him and politely insisted, “Go ahead ma’am,” giving her permission to
walk in front of him. She responded with a dirty look and did not move. Shortly
thereafter he turned to see her talking to a security agent. The agent
approached the Arab American traveler minutes later in the plane and directed
him to get off the flight. He was told that the woman had reported that he had
been “acting strange.” He was then scheduled for a later flight. Complaints
were also received of travelers being required to remove religiously mandated
head coverings—Muslim women’s scarves and Sikh turbans—at screening
checkpoints even though the metal detector did not sound.

In one typical example, on December 18, 2001, at
Baltimore/Washington International Airport a 17‑year‑old Muslim high
school student from Virginia was passing through security when she was stopped
by an airport security guard. “Hey, you need to take that off,” the guard
called out, referring to her hijab.
“Why do I have to take off my head cover?” the girl asked, when suddenly
nearby military personnel approached her. The sight of the guards in camouflage
and carrying combat rifles intimidated the teenager and she quickly took off her
scarf. A Muslim airport employee informed the guard that it was wrong to force
the student to remove her headscarf in public.[12]

Another type of discrimination involved harassment of
individuals by police on the basis of their appearance. On October 8, 2001, in
Alexandria, Virginia, an Arab American motorist and his two Arab passengers were
stopped by two city police officers who asked about the verse of the Quran
hanging from the car’s rearview mirror. One of the officers inquired about
documents and photocopies in the backseat. After asking for everyone’s
identification cards, he was granted permission to search the car. He took one
passenger’s identification card and the driver’s license, returned to his
car, and drove off without explanation. The Arab American motorist called 911.
About 10 minutes later the officer returned and said that he had received a call
and had to leave. According to the driver, the officer did not have his siren or
lights on when he drove away.

Referencing many of these same types of incidents, the
panelists at the forum made several major points:

Their communities, which are solidly part of American society,
condemned the September 11 attacks and want to see the perpetrators brought to
justice.

Members of these communities have suffered unprecedented levels
of hate violence, threats, and harassment, as well as discrimination in air
travel, employment, housing, education, and other areas since September 11.

The lack of vigorous federal agency response is of concern to
the affected communities. Although some government agencies have been receptive
to individual complaints of civil rights violations, and federal officials in
meetings give the impression that they care about these concerns, they typically
fail to follow through with action.

While incidents of hate violence have gradually tapered off in
the year since September 11, concerns have grown about civil liberties
violations; indeed, some of the affected groups now see threats to civil
liberties as the main worry, overshadowing hate violence. Racial profiling,
searches, interrogations, detentions, and, most recently, the raids by federal
agents in Northern Virginia have violated people’s civil rights and led to
deep distrust of the authorities among members of the affected communities.

The federal government has asked for help from Muslims and Arab
Americans in identifying potential terrorist threats, but at the same time it is
alienating those communities through aggressive violations of their civil
rights.

Johari Abdul-MalikMuslim chaplain, Howard University

According to some estimates, African Americans make up about a
third of all Muslims in the United States, and 84 percent of new converts to
Islam. The majority of African American Muslims in this country are Sunni
Muslims; a small minority belong to the Nation of Islam.[13]

African American Muslims are punished in two ways: on one hand
they’re perceived as disloyal Americans because they had the audacity to
select a “foreign” religion, and on the other hand they’re mistaken for
foreigners because of their name or appearance, especially in the case of women
who wear headscarves. American Muslim women are seen from afar and the
evaluation is, well, they’re brown, they’re wearing some foreign-type dress
that looks Islamic, and therefore this person is not a citizen. An American
Muslim woman will go to work and someone will yell to her, “Why don’t you go
back home?” And she says, “I’m from Herndon.”

Since September 11, we are getting reports of discrimination
against Muslims in the workplace. In some cases, when Arab American Muslims face
workplace discrimination they will go to an African American Muslim co-worker
and ask him or her to speak up on their behalf. Then the African American Muslim
also becomes the target of workplace discrimination. We are also getting reports
of Muslims being discriminated against in housing applications and in hiring.
Children are being taunted in public schools—“Osama bin Laden, why don’t
you go back to where you came from?”—even though most were born here.
Muslims are heckled in public, or warned of the risk they run by wearing head
coverings. Hate crimes have affected all segments of the Muslim community.

We are getting reports now of Muslims being discriminated
against in housing applications and in hiring. Applicants are asked, “Are you
a Muslim?”—and then don’t get a call back. One young man in the
information technology field told me he had a great résumé but never got calls
back. So he changed his name from Khalid to Ted and was hired in a week.

The community is very much concerned about the detentions and
the working links between the INS and the FBI. We have been encouraging our
community to cooperate with law enforcement, but when they do, it turns to
coercion based on immigration status. Agents ask, “You’re African American,
you go to such-and-such a mosque, do you know so-and-so?” And you know the
outcome is going to be that the INS and FBI walk in together, and that a person
who was going to cooperate is now coerced to cooperate because one of his
friends or relatives is out of status.

Prominent Islamic
institutions in Northern Virginia were the victims first of vandalism, then of
raids by law enforcement agents. So far there have been no indictments and no
arrests. These are upstanding members of our communities.[14]

Since September 11, the Arab American community has experienced
an unprecedented backlash in the form of hate crimes, various forms of
discrimination, and serious civil liberties concerns. The American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committeehas
compiled reports of more than 600 violent incidents directed against Arab
Americans and people perceived to be Arab, including Sikhs, South Asians, and
Latinos.[15] These incidents include
acts of physical violence such as vandalism, arson, beatings, and assault with
weapons; also included are threats of violence, such as bomb threats and hostile
phone calls.[16]

Airline racism is
a major issue. ADC has confirmed more than 60 cases in which passengers who were
perceived to be Arab have been expelled from planes because passengers or crew
members do not like the way they look or don’t feel safe with them on board.
Federal agencies, specifically the U.S. Department of Transportation and the
FAA, have done a good job of communicating the official view that this is
unacceptable, but there is a lack of enforcement and these incidents are still
happening. We’re getting words, but not actions.

Workplace and employment discrimination have grown tremendously
since September 11, and ADC has confirmed 230 such incidents. All were reported
to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which has done an outstanding
job of responding to the Arab American community and indeed has probably been
the federal agency most responsive to our concerns. For example, they have
created a special code—Code “Z”—to address complaints that may be
related to the backlash against Arabs and Muslims. Virginia is one of the top
six states in terms of the number of reported employment discrimination cases
since September 11.

Another concern is law enforcement profiling. ADC has received
dozens of reports of Arab Americans or those mistaken for Arab Americans being
searched and questioned by local police for no apparent reason. In one typical
example, an Arab American motorist was stopped and searched by Alexandria,
Virginia, police solely because he had a small version of the Quran hanging from
his rearview mirror. This and many other incidents were reported to the Civil
Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, which has created a special
task force.

Other problems include violent harassment in schools and
universities (45 cases confirmed) and denial of service, such as in restaurants
(23 cases confirmed).

The major area of concern now, however, is threats to civil
liberties. Arab Americans are becoming afraid of the federal government, mainly
because of actions by the Justice Department. The community was shaken by the
March 20 raids in Northern Virginia carried out by a task force of the U.S.
Treasury Department and other law enforcement and customs officials. ADC objects
to the secrecy and the way in which these raids were conducted. The people
targeted were stable and respected members of the community. Agents could have
knocked on their doors and been invited in. Instead the agents smashed down
doors, yelling and screaming, handcuffed people, and seized personal property,
much of which has not been returned. And nobody has been charged with any crime.

We are also very concerned about the interviews being conducted
by the Justice Department using U.S. attorneys’ offices as well as FBI field
offices. The attorney general said these would be voluntary interviews of 5,000
Arab men with nonimmigrant visas, but many U.S. citizens, including some born
here, have also been summoned for questioning. The answers given in the
interviews are being compiled in a federal database. This creates fear and
hostility toward the federal government. When you do this to a community that
you’re looking for help from, you’re basically not going to get that help.

While the government makes statements against racial profiling,
rumors fly through the Arab American community about the latest detentions.
People are getting conflicting messages from the government. For example, the
DOJ Civil Rights Division is doing a good job of outreach, but other elements
within DOJ, including the leadership, send a very different message.

There is a lot of negativity in the media. Self-proclaimed
terrorism experts go on TV, claiming to be experts on Arabs and Islam, when in
fact they’ve never been to any Arab country and just spout stereotypes. They
get Ph.Ds in psychology and political science and decide to write a book on
terrorism, and all of a sudden they’re on CNN and MSNBC giving you their
opinions every night on prime time. It is no help whatsoever. If you want
experts, you should talk to people from within the community. If you want to
understand Islam, talk to an imam. If you want to understand something about
Arab culture, talk to an Arab American. They’ll tell you both the positives
and the negatives rather than the stereotypical rhetoric that’s on TV almost
every night.[17]

Rajwant SinghPresident, Sikh Council on Religion and Education

Americans have little information about the Sikh religion. The
religion was founded on the principles of equality of all persons regardless of
gender, race, religion, caste, or social status. Sikhs are identified by their
distinctive dress, which includes uncut hair, beard, turban, and a small
ceremonial sword, or kirpan. To a
Sikh, the turban protects the uncut hair and is a symbol of his spiritual
identity and commitment to spiritual discipline as required by the founders of
the faith. Sikhs have been part of this country since the beginning of the last
century and contribute to American society in many different fields.

The Sikh community has faced severe problems in the aftermath
of the September 11 tragedies.[18]
Our very distinctive appearance has made us the targets of hate, as Americans
wrongly assume we are associated with terrorists. Hate crimes and incidents
against Sikhs have increased dramatically since September 11. More than 300 hate
crimes and incidents against Sikhs have been reported since that date, ranging
from verbal abuse to physical assault and even murder. A Sikh gas station owner
was shot and killed on September 15, 2001, in Mesa, Arizona, by someone who said
he looked like Osama bin Laden.[19]
Other examples include a child hit with a bottle of flammable material in
California, an arson attempt on a Sikh worship place in Cleveland, vandalism of
worship places in California and homes in Virginia and Colorado, an assault with
a baseball bat on an elderly man in New York, arson against a Sikh-owned
convenience store in New York, an assault on a middle school student, and many
others. Sikhs have had garbage and eggs thrown at them, have had guns shown to
them, and have been shoved and pushed.

The Sikh community is enduring profiling at an unprecedented
level, with people singled out for searches and questioning by federal, state,
and local law enforcement and by airport screeners. These include turban
searches. On September 12, 2001, Sher Singh of Leesburg, Virginia, was taken off
an Amtrak train by police in Providence, Rhode Island, searched, and taken into
custody because he carried a kirpan, a
ceremonial knife less than four inches long. His picture with handcuffs was
shown repeatedly by the national and international media, even after the charges
were dropped, as a suspect that had been apprehended. We believe this publicity
contributed to the subsequent murder of the Sikh in Mesa, Arizona.

Young Sikhs in schools and colleges have endured verbal and
physical assaults. We also face increasing hostility in the workplace, with Sikh
employees being required to cut their hair and remove their turbans in order to
keep their jobs. For example, a few weeks after September 11 a Sikh American
working for a shipping service delivered a package to a business as part of his
job. A person who saw the Sikh leaving the building called the local police,
saying that a person with a turban who looked Arab had delivered a suspicious
package to the business. The police evacuated the building, fearing that a bomb
was in the package. After hearing of the incident, the Sikh courier’s manager
said that there had been customer complaints about his appearance and asked him
to remove his turban and cut his beard. In fear of losing his livelihood, the
Sikh American reluctantly complied. He trimmed his beard and replaced his turban
with a baseball cap. He was fired anyway and has since had difficulty finding a
job. We have talked to the family and the gentleman. He is severely depressed
because of this incident.

These problems stem from ignorance of our culture. Ninety-nine
percent of the people in this country who wear turbans are Sikhs, yet we are
seen as somehow related to Osama bin Laden. We have advised our people not to
shave their beards or remove their turbans. Rather, we are trying to educate
outsiders about us, a tremendous task.

Our community believes that laws against hate crimes should be
enforced. There should be legislation to regulate airport searches, including
turban searches, with fines for arbitrary actions by airport security personnel.
The government should create fact sheets on groups affected by the backlash
after September 11 and increase outreach to these communities. Efforts are
needed to raise awareness of the Sikh community and other affected communities,
including images of Sikhs as Americans in the media. Training should be provided
to federal, state, and local agencies to raise awareness of who Sikhs are, and
steps should be taken to incorporate cultural awareness in curricula and inform
teachers and school administrators about the affected communities. And finally,
we should hold events that encourage members of different religious and ethnic
communities to learn about each other.[20]

Sharifa AlkhateebPresident, North American Council for Muslim Women

We share the nation’s sorrow over the tragic events of
September 11 and wish to see the perpetrators brought to justice.

Many hate crimes after September 11 were directed specifically
at Muslim women, and forced them to make very uncomfortable decisions about
their freedom of movement, speech, and dress, for fear of their safety in public
and even in their own homes. Most Muslim women in America felt very intimidated
and frightened in the early weeks after the attacks, and continue to feel so
today. Many Muslim women continue to receive hate messages by mail and e-mail,
such as the widely circulated statement, “Put a match to every scarf-head.”
Even today, women are being subjected to cursing, spitting, screaming, staring
menacingly, being poked or punched, teasing, name-calling, being pushed, cars
following them and sometimes bumping their cars, strangers giving them the
finger or yelling at them to go back home. I have personally experienced almost
all of these. One such incident was in downtown Washington, D.C., on M Street: a
man rolled down his window and screamed curses at me, for no reason at all.
Muslim children in public schools were also subjected to all the behaviors
mentioned above; in a few instances, the person taunting them was their own
teacher or their principal.

After September 11, some religious and community leaders
advised Muslim women to remove their head coverings or even stay at home. Some
did for a while, and some also withdrew their children from school. Many good
non-Muslim neighbors helped by offering to escort Muslim women when they needed
to go out. Some non-Muslim women even put on headscarves on designated days to
show solidarity with Muslim women.

The media in this country took an extremely negative attitude
toward anyone Muslim and anything “Islamic,” with one anti-Arab, anti-Muslim
barrage or diatribe after another. This has resulted in Muslim women feeling
judged by all to be guilty of something at all times. The number one fear of
Muslim women in America today is being treated unfairly by those who do not know
them. If they wear a head covering, they fear some stranger pulling it off or
doing them some bodily harm.

These fears were made more concrete as a result of the recent
raids here in the Herndon, Virginia, area. Agents appeared at homes, businesses,
and schools shouting and banging on doors, armed with machine guns and
bulletproof vests. They showed identification to some and to others they did
not; in some cases they did not show any warrant but just entered and proceeded
to search. Some doors were broken down. The authorities ran through premises
looking for anyone who was not a U.S. citizen. In some instances, they treated
people very badly until they saw their U.S. passports. Some investigators
participating in the raids became very angry and verbally violent when
questioned about anything at all that had to do with the search. Two women and
one teenage boy were handcuffed for several hours. Two Muslim women who wear
head coverings normally were not wearing them when the government agents came in
and they refused to allow the women to put on their religiously mandated head
coverings for several hours. They took every computer from the premises as well
as boxes of papers, money and other valuables, and even people’s personal
diaries. In at least one case, agents left the entire home in complete disarray.
News of this went out very quickly and traumatized Muslim women all over the
country.

We met with Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill and asked for
information about the protocol for how the raids were conducted, but his office
never provided the information and did not respond to follow-up calls. They call
meetings to give the impression that they care about your concerns, but they
don’t do anything about them.[21]

For every complaint that is filed, another 10 are never brought
forward because people are scared to death of being taken away if they speak up.[22]
Our organization has been organizing town meetings in our communities with
representatives of federal agencies, which have helped somewhat to convince
people that the government is not out to get every Arab and Muslim.

Some good things have happened as a result of the backlash. For
example, four mosques in Fairfax County, Virginia, received government grants to
provide counseling and other services to the Muslim community. This was a vote
of confidence in the Muslim community by the county and the government.
Additionally, although the media coverage has been heavily anti-Arab and
anti-Muslim, it nonetheless has served to increase the average American’s
interest in learning more about these groups. Since September 11, our
organization has participated in more than 200 events, including interfaith
dialogues, meetings with public officials, media appearances, and teach-ins at
universities, churches, and other institutions.

Our recommendations:

Legal penalties for hate crimes should be publicized.

Police should come to the scene when people report an abuse.

There should be publicity regarding how to file complaints of
civil rights violations.

The White House should be advised of the potential consequences
of public statements they make—such as Attorney General Ashcroft’s statement
that funds would be given to neighborhood watch groups to spy on Muslim and Arab
neighbors.

Relief monies intended for the Muslim American community should
be channeled through Muslim groups.[23]

Gautam DuttaVice president, South Asian Bar Association

South Asia is a very large and diverse subcontinent, with many
religions, and South Asian immigrants to the United States reflect that
diversity. They include Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, and even Christians
and Jews.

The nonprofit organization South Asian American Leaders of
Tomorrow compiled a report on the violent attacks against South Asians, Arabs,
Muslims, and Sikhs in the first week after September 11.[24]
The report documents 645 reported hate crime incidents during September 11–17,
including three killings of South Asians as well as several killings of Arab
Americans. The violence has touched many different communities, including
Latinos—anyone who resembles what people think a terrorist should look like is
at risk. There were also at least 49 assaults and 92 incidents of vandalism or
arson, and 465 incidents of threats and intimidation. A lawyer colleague of mine
was chased down the streets of Manhattan on September 12, 2001. Another
colleague of mine was kicked off an airplane just because he looked South Asian.
As for me personally, I was walking down the street with some South Asian
friends two or three weeks after September 11 and a passerby said, “Your
people must be really happy about the attacks.” I don’t know which people
he’s talking about. We’re all Americans, too.

The South Asian community has always been treated as
“foreign.” The community experienced many violent attacks even before
September 11, but a lot of South Asians believed that as long as they work hard
and contribute to society, no one will harm them. Suddenly, people are realizing
that they are vulnerable.

There is now widespread concern about racial profiling and
discrimination: being pulled off airplanes, being pulled over just because you
look Sikh. There’s concern about the detentions of many South Asians by the
federal government right now. And in a broader sense, there’s concern about
whether South Asians will ever be accepted as Americans. South Asians now have
more empathy for groups that have suffered from racial profiling in the
past—African Americans, Latinos. We’re all in the same boat and we have to
fight for our rights.

There are mixed messages coming from the government, so top
political leaders need to make clear statements about hate crimes. They should
get the word out that hate crimes will not be tolerated and let people know what
to do if they are affected. At present, there is often reluctance to go to the
authorities because of fear and embarrassment. At the same time, local and state
governments must get over their denial that hate crimes do occur.

We, members of affected groups, all need to be more proactive
in working to promote understanding. People need to see that we are not the
“Other.”[25]

Since September 11, we have seen a substantial increase in
reported bias incidents against Arab Americans, Muslim Americans, South Asian
Americans, and Sikh Americans, as well as others perceived to be members of
these groups. These incidents include hate crimes and discrimination in
employment, housing, education, public accommodations, and air travel. The
Department of Justice is taking this problem very seriously and is devoting
significant resources to it.

The Civil Rights Division reacted swiftly to stem the backlash,
issuing a statement on September 13, 2001, that threats of violence or
discrimination against these groups are wrong, un-American, and unlawful. We met
with representatives of the affected communities on the same day, and have
continued to meet with them. We also created a post-September 11 initiative
within the Civil Rights Division’s National Origin Working Group. This
initiative seeks to combat discrimination in three ways. First, we receive
reports of violations, maintain a database of complaints, and refer complaints
to the proper federal agencies. Second, we do outreach to vulnerable
communities, working with Arab, Sikh, and Muslim community organizations to
enable people to file complaints. This has included holding community forums in
Arlington, Virginia, and several other locations. Third, we work with other DOJ
components and with other government agencies to provide interagency
coordination to address the backlash.

With the help of the FBI, the U.S. attorneys’ offices, and
local prosecutors, the Civil Rights Division has opened more than 350 criminal
investigations into alleged hate crimes, including telephone, Internet, mail,
and face-to-face threats; minor assaults; assaults with dangerous weapons;
assaults resulting in serious injury or death; and vandalism, shootings, and
bombings aimed at homes, businesses, and places of worship. We also have dozens
of civil investigations under way into alleged noncriminal bias incidents.

The Civil Rights Division and the U.S. attorneys’ offices
continue to coordinate with local prosecutors to bring federal charges where
appropriate. Federal charges have been brought in 10 cases so far. Additional
prosecutions may take place in response to the 350 investigations opened since
September 2001, but with each complaint a determination must be made whether it
rises to the threshold of having violated federal civil rights law. In some
cases, these crimes have to be prosecuted at the state and local level.

Regarding violations of civil rights by government personnel,
there are two offices in the Justice Department charged with investigating
allegations of abuses by the department’s personnel and by state and local law
enforcement. Complaints about the Operation Green Quest raids have been filed
with the Customs Service of the Treasury Department, which is heading up that
operation, and some investigations have been opened. Treasury Secretary
O’Neill has also met with Arab American and Muslim leaders to discuss their
concerns about the raids.[26]

[2] American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) Research Institute, Report
on Hate Crimes and Discrimination Against Arab Americans September 11, 2001
to October 11, 2002 (available from Laila Al-Qatami at lalqatami@
adc.org or (202) 244-2990). The FBI and the ADC used slightly different
criteria to define and verify incidents; the ADC report includes incidents
reported to the organization and to the news media as well as those reported
to law enforcement.

[3] These examples and the
examples in the following paragraphs are drawn from ADC Research Institute, Report
on Hate Crimes and Discrimination, and press reports.

[4] Stroman was subsequently
tried and convicted of Patel’s murder. See also Robert E. Pierre,
“Victims of Hate, Now Feeling Forgotten,” Washington Post, Sept. 14, 2002.

[13] Although Louis Farrakhan
agreed in 2000 to adopt the general tenets of worldwide Islam, the Nation of
Islam maintains a separate organizational structure and has remained
somewhat isolated, according to Mr. Abdul-Malik.

[14] Johari Abdul-Malik,
summary of testimony before the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia
Advisory Committees to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, community forum,
Annandale, Virginia, April 24–25, 2002, transcript, pp. 309–16,
364–65, 371, 411 (hereafter cited as Forum Transcript).

[15] More than 700 violent
incidents targeting Arab Americans or those perceived to be Arab Americans,
Arabs, and Muslims in the first nine weeks following September 11, 2001,
were reported by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Research
Institute in its report titled Report on Hate Crimes & Discrimination
Against Arab Americans: The Post-September 11 Backlash, May 2003. Copies
may be obtained by e-mailing adc@adc.org or calling (202) 244-2990.

[16] The incidents are
summarized in ADC Research Institute, Report on Hate Crimes. The final version of the report covered the
period up to October 11, 2002, and thus contained a higher number of
incidents in every category than the figures mentioned by Mr. Shora at the
April forum.

[18] Many press articles
documenting the backlash against Sikh Americans can be found at <www.attacksonsikhs.com>.

[19] Mr. Singh later added
that the Department of Justice has not moved ahead on prosecution of the
murder of Balbir Singh Sodhi. Although it is being prosecuted locally as a
homicide, he stated, it should also be dealt with at the federal level as a
hate crime. Forum Transcript, p. 391.

[21] Consistent with this, a
member of the audience, June Han of the National Asian Pacific American
Legal Consortium, remarked that initial outreach by federal agencies to
vulnerable communities has been good and they have shown openness to
receiving complaints; the problem is lack of follow-up. She suggested the
need for a formal follow-up mechanism. Forum Transcript, pp. 405–06.

[22] Albert Mokaiber, an Arab
American attorney in the forum audience, said, “We go to the Department of
Justice and we’re told all the right things about civil rights, and no
sooner do we leave than there’s somebody behind us following us all the
way back.” Forum Transcript, p. 400.